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View Poll Results: Who is MOST to blame for the problems of African Americans?

re: Who do you blame for the problems of African Americans?? [W:98]

I blame those who, (Like the person who started this thread.), have lots of time to waste talking about a problem.

But no time to spend solving that problem.

Solving this problem will require a lot of people to get off of their backsides and actually do something.

I don't expect to see that happen anytime soon.

Really? What have you done?

"He who does not think himself worth saving from poverty and ignorance by his own efforts, will hardly be thought worth the efforts of anybody else." -- Frederick Douglass, Self-Made Men (1872)
"Fly-over" country voted, and The Donald is now POTUS.

re: Who do you blame for the problems of African Americans?? [W:98]

Originally Posted by MasterLiberty

The title is evident. Who is the MOST to blame for the problems of African Americans today??

I would say that "blame" might be the wrong category. But it is always a good idea to look for the immediate cause in oneself first and do everything one can to fix the problem oneself.
That being said, there are often and there are here things that make the social landscape easier for those living on fertile ground and less so, when one is forced to swim against the current.

But to speak of blame often points in the wrong direction, when we talk of social issues. They are, what they are and we are trying to find a better way and to change them. This type of change does not usually happen quickly nor is the quick change in social values always the way to go. Hitler was able to attain rapid change, but it was not so very alien to the culture. In our case, the change has been relatively quick. If you were to compare the situation of most minorities in the 1940s and now, the shift is very visible and the circumstances for minorities have improved considerably. This did not happen easily against vast vested interests.

It may appear that the change has been too slow. But has it? When one sets about changing social factors it will depend on how they come about. In this case the minorities lived in their own environment, had their own beliefs, cultures as well as content and methods of upbringing and imparting their culture on the next generation. All of these factors contributed to the circumstances and many of the traditions optimized living and were therefore felt to be good. You don't jsut throw this over board easy and quick. It takes generations. Not for Individual individual, but for the group it does.

re: Who do you blame for the problems of African Americans?? [W:98]

Prior to the introduction of crack, blacks were on track to equal whites in pay, housing, education and a whole host of other issues. Crack basically stopped that and they lost ground.

Huh. I didn't know that. When did "the crack" attack black people, and why did the US military not stop it?

Alright, that's a stupid question - but the point remains; the way you are phrasing this seems to suggest that you are voiding their agency, and suggesting that blacks had no choice but to adopt hard drugs into their culture. I would venture that, while deadly, crack wasn't the problem, it was a symptom and an accelerant.

re: Who do you blame for the problems of African Americans?? [W:98]

Whatever negative trends that occur within the black community, within America, are a product of American society. They don't exist apart from American culture, they are part of it.

This.

The correct answer is "all of the above." You can point to individual things each of these groups have done wrong, but at the end of the day, the break-down of communication within culture is what is stalemating black equality. In white culture, the problems are old and deeply cultural. In black culture, they are newer, but very emotionally held. And in the combined American culture, there is so little real dialogue happening that it cannot even be summarized, and so no progress can be made under those circumstances.

re: Who do you blame for the problems of African Americans?? [W:98]

I may not have the answer myself, or even the time or willingness to try.
But one thing that is very clear is that the problem is far more complex than the discussion that this poll allows for and far more complex than any conversation in this thread.